New pay system delays civil servants’ salaries, pension

Civil servants may have to wait for more than a week into the new month before getting salary for the past 31 days due to system upgrade delays.

This is contained in a verified communication from the human resource management section at the Ministry of Public Service dated May 24.

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The letter indicates that the ministry was unable to conclude the implementation of the Human Capital Management (HCM) system that is aimed at ensuring efficiency by automating the human resource management functions and processes in public service. 

“This ministry was scheduled to start implementation of HCM with effect from May 2022. As a result, the salary and pension for May, 2022 will be paid through the HCM.  However, before the payment process is concluded, the Ministry of Public Service in conjunction with the service providers of HCM is synchronising the payroll information with the approved structure to ensure seamless integration,”’ the letter reads in part.

 It adds: “As a result of the above, there will be an anticipated delay. Salaries and pension will not be paid by 28th of this month but hopefully by June 8, 2022.”

This publication was unable to independently verify the other exact categories of civil servants that are affected by the delay.

Officials at the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs confirmed the document and the delayed salaries for civil servants and pensioners.

“It’s a genuine internal memo, I don’t know how you media people got it. What I can say is that it’s true, the HR communicated that our May salary will delay but there is no cause for alarm,” Mr Simon Peter Jamba, the spokesperson of the Justice ministry, said last evening.

But the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Public Service, Ms Catherine Bitarakwate, yesterday was unwilling to discuss the developments, 

“It is an administrative letter, why would I be discussing it with you? You have seen whom it is addressed to, so what has it got to do with the press? If it is addressed to those people, it is between us and them,” she said.

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“The accounting officers also informed their accounting officers and everyone is aware. I do not think that it is right for our internal letter now to be a subject of discussion because it is an administrative matter,”  Ms Bitarakwate added.

Call for calm

Public Service minister Muruli Mukasa called for calm, saying they were engaging the beneficiaries about the delays.

“They need  not to get worried. Finance released  the money at the beginning  of the quarter.  The votes that have not paid  could be experiencing a local  problem.  Otherwise the payment was decentralised to individual votes. I’m sure  the civil servants will be paid,” he said.

Finance ministry spokesperson Jim Mugunga said: “It is not uncommon for new systems that are just introduced to resolve and reconcile data and set up correctly to fluctuate. This is not a widespread case hence we believe the affected ministries will resolve timely and all will be paid. We have the funds.”